London (W1 - W14) Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Workmen
Location: W11 - 51 Peel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The sound of footsteps could often be heard on the upper part of the house - it was said that two workmen died during its construction, and that they had remained there.
Smell of Death
Location: W11 - 6 Lonsdale Road (Edwardian house, no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s
Further Comments: Prior to the Edwardian house being demolished, occupants would occasionally encounter rhythmic waves of wind and an overwhelming smell of decay. Some believed this was caused by the ghost of a man who hanged himself in the house, his body undiscovered for two weeks.
Stealing Cashier
Location: W11 - Former Coronet Cinema, Notting Hill Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around Christmas (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Caught stealing from the night's takings, this cashier killed herself in the building when confronted by the manager. Her footsteps are heard running up the stairs towards the area where she leapt from, breaking her neck in the fall.
Lady Diana Rich
Location: W11 - Holland House, Holland Park
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 1658 (Fetch), 1965 (Holland)
Further Comments: While walking the grounds of the estate (as it once was), Lady Diana Rich met her 'fetch', a double which appears as a warning of impending death. She died within a month. Two more woman who lived in the building recalled similar experiences prior to dying. The house is also reportedly haunted by the shade of the Earl of Holland (sometimes holding his decapitated head in his hands), who died in 1614 - he may have been spotted in 1965 by students.
Battle of Blythe Road
Location: W14 - 36 Blythe Road
Type: Other
Date / Time: 19 April 1900
Further Comments: It was in this former Golden Dawn temple that W B Yeats faced off against Aleister Crowley, when the latter entered reciting spells, wearing the black mask of Osiris and a kilt, while brandishing a dagger. Crowley was removed by police.
Child
Location: W14 - Tower House, Melbury Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: During an interview, Richard Harris claimed the ghost of an eight year old child haunted his London home. The entity would keep Harris up at night, until the actor asked the entity to leave him alone.
Attache
Location: W1B - Chinese Embassy, Portland Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa October 1903
Further Comments: A witness claimed to have identified the phantom seen on the staircase as a former attache with whom he had previously worked. The Secretary of the Embassy confirmed a member of staff had died in the building a few years prior.
Body in the Basement
Location: W1D - Building (may longer stand) by St Anne's Churchyard
Type: Other
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man staying at a guesthouse here had a dream that he wandered down to the basement and discovered a body. Awaking in terror he quickly dressed, left the house, and called on a friend. They returned to the house and, venturing into the basement, discovered a dead man. The landlady had, in the meantime, fled and was said never to have been caught.
Lady Barrington
Location: W1G - Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Manifesting as a grey lady, the college's ghost is named as Lady Barrington who fell on the main staircase and died of her injuries.
Murder
Location: W1J - House along Bruton Street (may no longer stand)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1930s
Further Comments: A murder carried out by a mother and her daughter was said to have resulted in a haunting erupting at the property where the crime occurred.
A Man Vanishes
Location: W1J - Piccadilly Circus Underground Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1970s
Further Comments: In his autobiography, Gary Numan says that he and a friend followed a man dressed in 1940s style clothing as they passed through the station, believing he was heading towards an exit. The man turned a corner with Numan and friend close behind, but they turned into a dead end - there was no place the man could have gone.
Lizzie Stride
Location: W1P - Berner Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: For several months after Jack the Ripper had gone to work on poor Lizzie, her cries and screams could be heard close to where she died.
Spontaneous Fires
Location: W1U - 12 Manchester Square
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: April 1928
Further Comments: The home of Richard Bethell become subject to a series of small fires that broke out on rugs, curtains and sofas. Friends of the family suspected spirits, while the police thought the arsonists to be more flesh and blood. The newspapers noticed Bethell having excavated the tomb of Tutankhamen, thus being subject to the curse of the pharaoh.
Man in Formal Wear
Location: W2 - 66 Porchester Terrace (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-Second World War
Further Comments: This ghostly gentleman always appeared with his back to witnesses - he was a former owner who hanged himself after a dinner engagement.
Carriage
Location: W2 - Bayswater Road, area near Hyde Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Coach unknown, woman possibly early twentieth century
Further Comments: A nineteenth century coach and horses are said to still run along this stretch of road. Another ghost reported was a shadowy woman in shabby clothing with a face which resembled death incarnate.
Man in a Trilby
Location: W2 - Marble Arch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s?
Further Comments: This underground station is said to be haunted by a man in a trilby hat and overcoat, seen on the escalator and vanishes when spotted.
The Condemned
Location: W2 - Mason's Arms public house, Upper Berkeley Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The cellars of this public house were once used to hold prisoners due to be hanged from the nearby Tyburn Tree (now only marked by a plaque). Their presence lingers on.
Mr Smith
Location: W2 - Private residence, Hyde Park Square
Type: Other
Date / Time: Pre-1872
Further Comments: A rumour started that a house was haunted by its former owner, Mr Smith. Smith was a former architect who requested that, after his death, his body should be placed in a glass coffin and stored in a glass room on the roof of his home. The story of the transparent coffin and ghost ensured the property remained empty for over a decade, until a coroner forced entry and discovered that the story of the coffin was false (he apparently did not find a ghost either).
Child
Location: W2 - Safestore, Paddington Green
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first Century
Further Comments: One person called their manager as they had seen a child wandering the site on CCTV but were unable to find them within the building. Other staff have reported seeing the figure around the building, a former hospital.
Sarah
Location: W2 - Sarah Siddons School, North Wharf Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The namesake of the building is still around after her death in the 1830s - Sarah has been seen wearing a blue dress and a small hat.
Execution
Location: W2 - St George's Field, area near Marble Arch
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1979
Further Comments: A witness living near here reported looking from a window to see dozens of people standing around the scene of an eighteenth century execution. The Bayswater Road area is also said to be haunted by strange shadowy figures which quickly disappear once seen.
Victorian Nurse
Location: W2 - St Mary's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Victorian nurse unknown, Sister Thistlewaite 1970s
Further Comments: A Victorian nurse is said to occasionally appear and reassure patients that an experienced nurse will tend to them soon. A different tale from the 1970s states that a phantom known as Sister Thistlewaite would helpfully move bedpans and drop empty IV bags.
Old Yella
Location: W2 - The Motley Gentleman's Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: This establishment was haunted by a large mongrel with a shaggy yellow coat which lay asleep on top of a staircase. The creature was mistaken for a real dog by one member who tried to tap it with a stick - the stick passed through the dog and the entity faded away.
Humphrey
Location: W3 - Berrymead Priory, Salisbury Street, Acton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1885-1974
Further Comments: When the site contained a bakery, workers would report seeing a ghostly monk holding a torch who would walk through the site. The figure became known as Humphrey. A local artist sketching inside the building heard plainchant.
James
Location: W3 - Derwentwater House (demolished 1909)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1909
Further Comments: After raising an army to support the Jacobite rising of 1715, James, third Earl of Derwentwater, found himself arrested and beheaded. One story says friends of James took his head and body to Derwentwater House, where they were sewn back together and hidden on the site. Even though the remains were later taken for proper burial, James' headless ghost supposedly haunted the area.
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